you should see this months issue. they are pushing a 10,000 dollar specialized kissing some major Specialized A$$. It is a cool bike tho.

I hope its components have a longer shelf life.

MBA is out of touch with the average mountain biker. Seriously, how many of us here have plunked down 4K + for one bike (let alone 10K ) ? We may spend that much, but it will be on upgrades, and that'll be over the course of years.

i remember when i thought 300 bucks bought a nice bike and when i got the "bug" and started riding my little trek 3500 i soon found out that bikes were waaayyyyy more expensive then i thought. I started getting magazines like mba and they had these bikes that were $5000 and couldnt believe it. I thought it was a type O. Then i started riding regularly and fell in love with it and to be honest if i had the money to buy a $5000 to spare i would drop it on my dream bike in a heartbeat. I look at it as a investment in my heatlth and happiness now rather then just a bicycle.

Ancient King headset probably 15 yrs old
Ancient 747 pedals probably 15 years old
M950 shifters, rear deraileur
M900 cranks damn near 20 years old
Ibis Ti Bar prob 15 years old
Moots post prob 15 years old
Just replaced a 20 year old Flite saddle that had been recovered probably 4 times

You guys are forgetting its not about agw, its about how many riding hours.
They do it based on 10 hours a week.

4 month = 160 hours. I can agree on replacing a chain after 160 hours. Totally reasonable.
6 month = 240 hours. Do you get 240 hours from your tires? I don't get half of that on the rear.

Forget about months and weeks. Open your strava and see how many hours you rode. That will put things in perspective.

For the record my city bike is a 15 years old steel mountain bike. Everything original. The thing is that it does not get ridden a lot, never on trail and spent most of its life in a garage. So yeh 15 years, but that's not what they are talking about.

Frame:
Ti- 5 years - my 1996 Litespeed Hiwassee is still going strong with 5K+ miles registering on the cycle computer (95% of that off road). A couple of times a year I throw it up on the bike stand and check it for stress cracks. Until I see (or hear) anything suspect I'll keep riding it.
Steel- 7 years - my buddy's Independent Fabrications steel frame has been beaten on, ridden hard, and it still rides like the day he bought it 14 years ago.

Seatpost: Al- 2 years - I'm still using one of the first Thomson Elite seatposts produced. Like my frame every so often I pull it out, put fresh grease on it, and inspect it for cracks.

Derailleur Cables: 6 months - 14 year old Gore Rideon cables still shift smoothly and only need a once a season adjustment.

Rear Derailleur Loop: 6 months - 15 year old Shimano XTR still going strong with 5K+ miles on it.

Saddle: 4 years - I just bought a new WTB Rocket V saddle to replace my 15 year old WTB SST K saddle (it didn't need to be replaced due to wear, I'm just looking for more comfort)

Front Derailleur: 2 years - 15 year old Shimano XT still shifts like butter after it's annual adjustment.

Bars: Al- 1.5 years - another item I replace every few seasons out of principle.
CF- 1 year - for about five years I had a Easton EA 90 bar. On one of my inspections it showed some deep gouges from the stem, brake levers, and bar ends. Switched back to aluminum after that.

Grips: As needed

Headset: 1 year - 15 year Chris King with absolutely zero reason to ever replace it.

If you are really putting that many hours on the components, MBAs figures are really not that far off. Chain in 4 mo? Absolutely. Pedals in 2 years? Yep, and on and on. The point is that these are wear-items for the most part. A few high end manufacturers or components buck the trend, but again, these are wear items. They aren't really meant to be used indefinitely on a bike, ESPECIALLY anything drivetrain-related.

"It's only when you stand over it, you know, when you physically stand over the bike, that then you say 'hey, I don't have much stand over height', you know"-T. Ellsworth

This thread made me LOLoud! And I never read past the OPs initial post. According to what the OP listed that the magazine said I have a block of cheese in my refrigerator that has outlasted most of those parts. It's all marketing hype to get clueless people to "buy" replace parts prematurely. More money flowing through the industry.

If you are really putting that many hours on the components, MBAs figures are really not that far off. Chain in 4 mo? Absolutely. Pedals in 2 years? Yep, and on and on. The point is that these are wear-items for the most part.

That's not true at all. A lot of things listed have insanely long service lives precisely because the manufacturer doesn't want lawsuits

I agree and I question the aluminum frame lasting 4 years. Why fatigue? Doe's aluminum get weaker as it ages? I have an Intense UZZI-SL that is an 01' frame but bought new in 02'. It is my only ride and it has been ridden on average 2 times a week 3 hours per ride for 11 years and still going.

I agree and I question the aluminum frame lasting 4 years. Why fatigue? Doe's aluminum get weaker as it ages? I have an Intense UZZI-SL that is an 01' frame but bought new in 02'. It is my only ride and it has been ridden on average 2 times a week 3 hours per ride for 11 years and still going.

Alu does fatigue but it depends on how it's used not how long you have owned it. My alu mtb frame is 9yrs old and it hasn't fatigued yet. But I also don't beat the living snot out of it. But it will eventually crack and that is in my mind.

I did just replace my 9yr old xtr rear derailleur because the pivots had too much play and it started throwing chains. As of now the only original stuff on the bike are the shocks, front derailleur, and brakes.

Yeah stuff wears out but those mag recommendations assume that you are putting it through a LOT of heavy use which a lot of folks don't do.

If you do all the power to you but you will be replacing stuff more often. Just the way it is.

Alu does fatigue but it depends on how it's used not how long you have owned it. My alu mtb frame is 9yrs old and it hasn't fatigued yet. But I also don't beat the living snot out of it. But it will eventually crack and that is in my mind.

I did just replace my 9yr old xtr rear derailleur because the pivots had too much play and it started throwing chains. As of now the only original stuff on the bike are the shocks, front derailleur, and brakes.

Yeah stuff wears out but those mag recommendations assume that you are putting it through a LOT of heavy use which a lot of folks don't do.

If you do all the power to you but you will be replacing stuff more often. Just the way it is.

Where do they come up with a 4 year life span of an aluminum frame. I am 205 lbs and ride it pretty hard and jump it. I have cracked a couple frames prior to this. But from what I said above in the length of time used in 11 years of use I question their statement. Every frame is different thicknesses and different alloys along with use and weight of rider.

That's not true at all. A lot of things listed have insanely long service lives precisely because the manufacturer doesn't want lawsuits

Seatpost: Al- 2 years. Almost infinite

Depends. Dissimilar metals can and have caused some problems, sometimes raising and lowering can start to score it some. It's good to be thinking about it in 2yrs time, but it may not require it. On the other hand, we've had to use some pretty extreme measures at the bike shop to remove seized posts...

Saddle: 4 years why?

I don't think I've ever had one last 4 years. The edges start to get torn away first, then either it starts to lose the integrity of the cushion, or the rails bend in a crash or impact. Possibly weakened by other crashes or impacts.

Front Derailleur: 2 years only if it doesn't work any more

Pivots wear, it gets sloppy etc. Mine currently doesn't really work all that well anymore, but at least I don't use it

Cranks: 2 years not true

Well, that depends. Shimano hollowtech? Ok, for the most part sure, but you may want to switch out the bearings to enduro-bearings after 2 years, which is cheap. Raceface/truvative's version of external BBs that still uses a taper-lock system? Take that on and off for two years (for cleaning, servicing suspension pivots, etc) and tell me it's still as solid as the day you bought it. In fact, my DH bike was suffering from this when I let it go. The cranks weren't "totaled", but they were "creaky" with a little play due to taking them on and off many times. Poor interface can do that, so it maybe depends here...

Pedals: 2 years bearings can be lubed and adjusted

True, and I find shimano bearings to last for just about forever, but on the bikes designed to take some hits, 2 years seems about right. I can usually make the better all-mountain/DH pedals last about this long until it's just not worth it to fix them (by replacing parts, cages, etc). It's about 2 years before they're just beat to hell bashing rocks and everything else. 2 years is infinitely better than the ~2 months I get on crank brother's pedals, haha, maybe they're shifting the normal distribution curve over to the left.

Yes, this one is odd, some things to think about though, impacts, dents, gouges, and so on. Most of these happen within "normal use", but can significantly degrade the life of a bike. The numbers above might correspond to some of that. Not only that, but some full suspension bikes are designed so poorly that the bearings give out, ovalize the holes, and make the entire bike worthless. This takes a few years to happen usually, and replacing the bearings helps, but especially for older bikes, they just weren't designed to go more than a few years with the poor suspension/pivots that they had, even with changing them out.

Stem: 1 year who says?

For the most part I agree, except for some of the really skinny-light XC stems out there that twist and flex significantly. I never really trusted those, even when new. There are still some of those out there, especially on older bikes.

Brakes: As soon as pads wear past mf's limit (durrr)What......

Well, hopefully this is referring to changing the pads, although my avid BB7s lasted about 2 seasons before they were complete trash.

Headset: 1 year again why? relube or replace bearings

Yes, this one is odd. Headsets are not high stressed parts, not much reason to change it, unless it was like a $10 headset or something.

Fork: 2 years you can buy bushings and seals you know.....

Well, yes, but what about having to buy new dampers and other parts? My 1st generation Reba fell apart, it lasted into the 2nd season and by that time it wasn't worth it anymore. The older forks especially weren't really made to last more than a few seasons. Manitous, RSs, etc. Some of them have such poor lubrication systems that they are basically self-destructing as soon as you get them. The biggest exception are the old bombers with their oil bath system. Change out the gunky oil, slap new seals and bushings in, and you are usually good to go. Not really the rule though, more the exception. For some forks, when you are looking at ANYTHING else + bushings + oil changes + new seals + things like air spring seals, it gets expensive quickly, it might be better served by a newer fork, or at least a total tear down and rebuild (not where they just replace the oil, but where every seal, bushings, and wear parts are replaced). Lots of peolple worked the fox-crowns loose or creaky after a while, and those were expensive. Yes, there are some great exceptions, but I've got to say that the 2 year thing for forks isn't all that far off.

Wheels: 2 years cant service bearings or freehub?

With regular use, you are probably going to need at least a new freehub (no, you usually can't service the bearings inside of that), new bearings, possibly cones if it's a shimano, and if not you might run into the problem of the ever-increasing bearing receptacle, because of the forces worn bearings put on the races. I've never met a freehub I couldn't break, but the best for me has been DT, and about 2 years is my best. Then there's spoke tension, and everything else. If it's truly being ridden as advertised, 2 years is probably time to start thinking about the wheels. Every once and a while you're going to hit something and get an impact into the rim, eventually enough hits may have an effect. 2 years may not mean everything on the wheels is trashed, but I've had that happen before and chances are something needs to be addressed.

Stuff lasts a very long time if you take care of it.

Drew

Stuff lasts less when you ride more.

"It's only when you stand over it, you know, when you physically stand over the bike, that then you say 'hey, I don't have much stand over height', you know"-T. Ellsworth

Unless you DH or FR or w/e, why would you ever need to replace your seat post? Maybe if you leave it outside for like 10 years then it will be in bad shape, but for me, the seat post really doesn't see much action. I hate sitting and spinning. I guess I use my seat less because I use my legs as shocks cuz I have a hard tail.

You would have to be riding really hard in some pretty crappy conditions to wear an AL frame out in 4 years.

Or just somebody that rides frequently, which is what the numbers work out to...

Only problem is... Many riders who put down that much hours usually have more than one bike that they use over the week. Heck I have a few different ones and I'm not even close to 10 hours a week, though I'd love to be.

Did they throw a bike down the stairway and then do again and again till every parts failed ? Then for each throw the part survive, they add 2 months of life to their expiration date ?

Originally Posted by NicoleB28

topless. that's what all mtb girls do. we go ride, get topless, have pillow fights in the woods, scissor, then ride home!

Maybe if by "frequently" you mean a 20 mile ride every day of the year.

Based on 10 hours a week. If you do the math, I think they are actually conservative on many estimates.
Tire 6 months = 240 hours, usually over 1000KM. If you can get 240 hours from many of the high end tires you are probably not riding hard enough to justify such tire.

Based on 10 hours a week. If you do the math, I think they are actually conservative on many estimates.
Tire 6 months = 240 hours, usually over 1000KM. If you can get 240 hours from many of the high end tires you are probably not riding hard enough to justify such tire.

Tires are one of the few things they are actually reasonable about. However, about half of that list (stem, seatpost, bars, FD, rear shock, cranks, pedals, headset, fork, wheels) is total nonsense.

Even with cables, frames, and pivot bearings, what they are describing is the very shortest end of possible lifespan, most last much longer than what they state.